Didn’t we anoint Dubnyk a No. 1 NHL goalie a few weeks ago, feeling this was his time?

No, yes and yes.

The tap on the shoulder for the 40-year-old Khabibulin to start against the Chicago Blackhawks, who haven’t lost a game in regulation all season long, on Monday night is curious. If Dubnyk, only 26, is supposed to be your guy now and down the road, shouldn’t he be starting? He’s rested, he hasn’t played since last Thursday in a 3-1 loss to Minnesota. This is the biggest game of the season for the Oilers, a chance to knock off a team that’s gone 18 straight games without dropping a game in 60 minutes, and coach Ralph Krueger–likely with some input from goalie coach Fred Chabot–is turning to Khabibulin. Again, this seems to go against the grain if Dubnyk is your guy. Or is Krueger, like most coaches, only dealing in the short term, not concerned about any long-term team philosophy?

Krueger has proven to be a very sharp guy in his first season as head coach, but are the Oilers risking sending mixed messages to Dubnyk by not playing him against Chicago? Are is it as simple as Dubnyk was pulled after 20 minutes against Colorado before the Oilers rallied around Khabibulin, and lost his other two starts against Dallas and Minny? Is Krueger, like all coaches, in the winning business and and does he simply feel Khabibulin gives him the best chance of that now? If you’re into stats, Khabibulin has given up seven goals in 120 shots this season over three starts and two periods. He has a save percentage of .942 and a goal average of 1.89 while Dubnyk is .917 and 2.78 on the season. As he did last year, Khabibulin is starting his season on fire; last year he struggled mightily after Christmas, though. In fair part because of hip issues.

Props to Khabibulin for bouncing back after lots of people had written him off after last season’s 12-20-7 record in 40 games. If the Oilers are out of the playoff picture in early April and Khabibulin is still playing well, he is prime trade bait for a Cup contender looking for goalie insurance. But for now, his early season play has clouded the goalie issue, not made it clearer. The numbers are all on the 40-year-old’s side lately (and lifetime he’s 15-9-1 against the Hawks), but again, isn’t Dubnyk supposed to be the guy? I thought he was but he was working overtime at the morning skate Monday with Chabot, going hard post-to-post in drills. Some remedial work, obviously.

After starting the first 10 games while Khabibulin was recovering after off-season hip surgery, Dubnyk has sat four of the last eight games. It looks more like a rotation than a usual starter/backup ratio. Maybe Krueger’s words after Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win over Phoenix, are ringing loud and true. “I know people talk of starters and first-lines but with us it’s a day-to-day decision. We have a great goaltending team,” said Krueger.

He said he would reassess after the Phoenix win and decide on who got the call against the 15-0-3 Hawks.

Now, we know. He’s sticking with the old guy.

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Krueger isn’t changing his defence pairings for the Hawks, which means Ryan Whitney will sit for the sixth time in the last 10 games. Theo Peckham is also out. So is winger Teemu Hartikainen, who was put on injured reserve with a sore shoulder–a carryover to the big blow he took from Colorado’s Patrick Bordeleau 10 days ago. He had been playing and scored a powerplay goal against the Coyotes Saturday. Lennart Petrell will be back in the lineup. “He passed his (concussion) test Sunday,” said Krueger.

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It appears Nail Yakupov will start on a fourth line with Chris Vandevelde and Petrell but that could change quickly, depending on how the game’s going with the Hawks and how many penalties the Oilers are killing. Ryan Smyth, one of the Oilers primary penalty-killers, will be with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle with Magnus Paajarvi moving onto a second line with Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky. Eric Belanger, Ryan Jones and Ben Eager will be the third line. “They had nine scoring chances last game (Phoenix),” said Krueger.

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